Choe Nam-seon

Choe Nam-seon (April 26, 1890- October 10, 1957) was a Korean historian and independence activist. He was born into a jungin (middle class) family in Seoul, Korea, under the late Joseon Dynasty, and educated in Seoul in the classical Chinese manner. He was sent to Japan on a government scholarship in 1904, where he enrolled at the First Tokyo Middle School (now Hibiya High School); however, he was expelled from the school in 1905 for a protest he organised among the Korean students there over the signing of the Eulsa Treaty.^[1] After his expulsion, he returned to Korea, but went to Tokyo again in 1906 to study at Waseda University.^[2] While in Japan, he was converted to the Japanese style of modernization, and sought to pattern Korea's modernization after the Japanese approach. He participated in the Patriotic Enlightenment Movement, publishing the first successful Korean modern magazine, Sonyeon (Youth), and pioneered new styles of Korean poetry.

Choe contributed to cement ties between Cheondogyo and Christian leaders with Kim Do-tae^[3] and drafted the Declaration of Independence for the March 1st Movement in 1919. Though he wrote the Declaration of Independence, he refused to sign it, fearing reprisals by the Japanese leadership in control at the time. He was arrested by authorities and imprisoned until 1921. He then joined an organization, the Korean History Compilation Committee established by the Japanese Governor-General commissioned to compile the history of Korea. He wrote many pro-Japanese speeches and articles from 1937 until the liberation of Korea in 1945.

In 1949, Syngman Rhee’s government arrested Choe for collaboration with the Japanese during the colonial period, but he was released due to illness. During the Korean War, Choe served on the Naval History Committee; after the war, he served on the Seoul City History Committee. He also advised the Government of South Korea for the rationalization of the Syngman Rhee line and the sovereignty of Dokdo.^[4] He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in October 1957.

Choe's reputation as a Korean historian is controversial due to his early studies on the traditional founder of Korea, Dangun, and his later contributions which were heavily influenced by Japanese views. His historical works are characterized by his complex, intricately detailed, and voluminous writing style.

Political ideas

Choe's writings were influenced by Liang Qichao (whose works were translated into Korean by Shin Chaeho), particularly his ideas on Social Darwinism, and Liang's writings on the Wars of Italian Independence.^[5] His ideas on Social Darwinism were explained as such:

The modern age is an age of power in which the powerful survive while the weak perish. This competition continues even until death. But why? Because the struggle to be a victor and a survivor never ends. But how? It is a competition of intelligence, physical fitness, material power, economic power, the power of idea and confidence, and organizational power. Everywhere this competition is underway daily.

—Choe Nam-seon, 1917

He believed by these struggles, Korea could eventually be strengthened into the ranks of a world power, and the Koreans elevated to the status of a world-historical people (a term used by Liang Qichao), culminating in Korean world domination. These ideas were stated as early as 1906:^[5]

How long will it take us to accomplish the goal of flying our sacred national flag above the world and having peoples of the five continents kneeling down before it? Exert yourselves, our youth!

—Choe Nam-seon, 1906

However, the 1910 Japanese annexation of Korea greatly destroyed his hopes, as according to his political ideals, Korea had lost a struggle to another people, the Japanese, whom Choe did not consider to be a "world-historical people", and he was greatly disillusioned by the Korean state of affairs at the time:^[5]

Although it is true that we have some [educational facilities], can we say that [they] are adequate for a country with five thousand years of history? Our conscience is not numb enough to claim that the 'Ch'unhyangjŏn and Simch'ǒngjŏn are as great as Faust, Hamlet, Les Miserables, and The Divine Comedy. . . We should know that we have no place in the intellectual world. . . We have made not made any contribution to the world civilizations or to the development of mankind. We have no Nobel Prize winners. . . Compare our country with Germany, the United States, Great Britain, and France. Compare our situation with the days of our ancestors, such as the times of Koguryŏ, Silla, and Parhae dynasties. Remember! Feel ashamed.

—Choe Nam-seon, 1917

With his disillusionment with the state of affairs, Choe instead to choose to seek evidence of glory in Korea's past, that he might use it to elevate Koreans to the status of a "world-historical people". As a nationalist historian, he did not feel that historical studies needed to be free of bias:^[5]

History cannot and should not be regarded as a science with no heart because it is learning for the sake of the people. Historical studies should have purpose and emotion behind them.

—Choe Nam-seon, 1930s

Choe sought a re-examination of Korean history. He believed that the historical record, Samguk Sagi, was too Confucian and sino-centric, and instead chose to draw his history from the Samguk Yusa, a collection of folktales, stories, and legends, previously disregarded by historians because of its numerous supernatural and Buddhist stories.^[5] By analyzing the mythological story of Dangun's birth from a she-bear, he argued the legend originated from an ancient culture with shamanistic roots.^[5]

From the account of Hwan'un ascending Taebaek Mountains, he came to claim that the character baek (白,백), also present in other Korean placenames, had a special meaning, symbolizing sun, heaven, and/or god in ancient Korean and was pronounced părk in ancient times.^[5] He expounded on a description of an ancient religion based on părk, based on worship of heaven and the sun, called the "Way of Părk", reinterpreted historical Buddhist Korean practices and Confucian shrines to Chinese deities as practices originating from the "Way of Părk", and called for the revival of this religion.^[5]

He also argued that the "Way of Părk" had spread throughout most of the rest of Eurasia in ancient times.^[5] He concluded that Japanese toponyms containing furu, fuka, hara, and hiko, were all variants of the Korean părk, and he claimed dozens of Japanese placenames were descended from the Korean idea.^[5] He extended this throughout much of Eurasia and came to the conclusion that some mountains in Mongolia, the Tian Shan mountains, Kunlun Mountains, Lake Baikal, Lake Balkash, Fergana, Bukhara, Bactria, Lake Barkol, Baku (in Azerbaijan), Varna and Burgas (in Bulgaria), the Balkan Mountains, Prague (in the Czech Republic), Belgrade (in Serbia), Bucharest (in Romania), Balikesir (in Turkey), Tripoli, Baghdad (in Iraq), and many other placenames were derived from părk.^[5] He regarded this vast expanse of Eurasia to be a cultural sphere originating from and centering on Korea, and concluded that Părk was one of the three major cultures of world history, which he ranked aside Indo-European culture and Chinese culture.^[5]

Choe speculated that even beyond the northern Eurasian sphere he envisioned, the equivalents of Părk appeared in the gods of many other cultures: Brahman in Hinduism, Baal of the Semites, Apollo of Greek mythology, Vulcan of Roman mythology, Frigg in Germanic mythology, and even deities in Mesoamerica, and in other placenames: Pars (Persia), Phoenicia, Parthia, Beersheva, Philistia, Phrygia, Pergamon, Baalbek, and Mount Parnassus (the list of these, and other names he listed, is not exhaustive).^[5] In terms of culture, he argued that the Japanese royal family, worship of Mount Taishan, the Chinese terms for Tian and Son of Heaven, and the Shinto religion to be descended from the original Părk culture.^[5] Choe argued that Korea's central place in world history had long been neglected.^[5]

One of the reasons why Părk culture, one of the biggest forces of human development, has been hidden for so long is because Korea, the greatest reservoir of this culture, held the secret key hidden in the dark. In my view, Korea is the great historical benchmark in the Părk culture. She achieved the high point in the long history of that culture. She abundantly manifested the most significant traits of that culture.

—Choe Nam-seon, 1922-1923

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